


Providence Curios

by thewitchofgeek



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Human Bill Cipher, M/M, Older Dipper Pines, magical!Dipper Pines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 14:50:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3982117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewitchofgeek/pseuds/thewitchofgeek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years after the events of that fateful summer, Dipper Pines has moved back to Gravity Falls.  A well-hidden supernatural supply store has opened up in that very same town, and one somewhat familiar shopkeeper keeps writing messages in foreign languages on his receipts.</p>
<p>Loosely inspired by several AU prompts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Providence Curios

It started when Dipper Pines found a hole-in-the-wall occult market in downtown Gravity Falls.  
  
Well, no.  No it didn't.  If one wanted to get technical, it really started the year he first visited Gravity Falls, which had been thirteen years prior.  
  
Dipper Pines was now twenty-five years old and a up-and-coming YA fantasy author.  (The irony of his autobiography being labeled fiction did not escape him.)  He was also an important member of a newly-founded organization dedicated to protecting humanity from the unknown by using said unknown.  The fact that his life had also turned into the plotline of a Hellboy comic did not escape him either.  
  
After completing his bachelor's (creative writing), Dipper had returned to Gravity Falls with intent to settle.  It worked out very well, inspiration around every corner, and plenty of chances to update the ever-growing database of the supernatural.  
  
But every author hits a block.  
  
In this case, the block was a rather pesky mite that fed off of creative minds, leaving them uninspired and foggy until the mite was banished.  
  
It was to this end that he had been en route to a small incense shop near the downtown portion (or what passed for downtown) of his home.  
  
Unfortunately for him, the incense shop had closed the week before, having been bought out by a supernatural supply store slash curio shop.  
  
Dipper squinted at the flyer attached to the door.

> _Due to unforeseen circumstances, we at Smoke and Mirrors have deemed it necessary to relocate our store to a new location far away from Oregon.  Don't look for us.  Seriously.  Don't.  We don't want to be found.  Please.  Please stop._

  
The brunet snorted.  It was so typical of his luck that a store he had established a rapport with would leave.  Hopefully this new store would prove helpful and just as easy to deal with.  
  
Opening the door, all he could see was a dimly lit store that oddly resembled the film version of Borgin and Burkes.  Glass cases housed daggers that claimed to have curses on them, necklaces that would steal the soul of the wearer, and the occasional golden talisman of unknown use.  
  
Clearing his throat, Dipper walked up to the burnished wood counter.  _'Odd,'_ he thought.  _'No one to man the desk?'_  
  
A loud cough from behind him led the writer to whirl around, nearly falling into the rather tall person behind him.  Blonde bangs against a backdrop of black hair, tanned skin, and piercing golden eyes.  _'Oh no,'_ Dipper screamed internally.  _'What do I do, they're attractive, and I can't people, and oh god what do I do.'_   An unexpectedly high, and strangely monotone, voice came from the stranger, the words unfortunately making no sense to the dazed customer.  
  
"Well?" the clerk asked, clearly impatient, brushing past him to arrange a stack of boxes on the table beside the desk.  "You came in, what d'ya want?"  
  
"Well," Dipper began, slightly irritated at the other's brazen behavior towards a customer, knocking him out of his entranced stupor.  "I was going to this one small store that sold ritual incense for vanilla rods, but lo and behold, it wasn't there anymore!" he blurted.  _'This won't end well,'_ Dipper bemoaned.  _'I just yelled at the oddly hot cashier and so much for this store working out and-'_  
  
A small smirk appeared on the clerk's face.  "Well, what are you doing with it?" they asked, bemused.  
  
Dipper was dumbfounded.  He was not expecting amusement as a reaction.  "Thought mites.  I have a deadline for a project in a week, and I can't afford to lose any time to them."  
  
As soon as the clerk heard "thought mites," they had vaulted over the counter and walked to the far wall, pulling down a box with a lotus on it.  Handing it over to Dipper, the shopkeeper grinned.  'How many teeth does this guy have,' Dipper marveled, but was cut short of further analysis by said clerk.  "You'll want lotus instead.  Thought mites are nasty little bastards, vanilla usually isn't strong enough.  Lemme write down a couple other things that might work," they stated, grabbing a pen.

> _1\. Smudges with vanilla in them._  
>  _2\. Sage.  So much sage._

  
After a moment, they continued writing, talking as they did so.  "Inveterate dierum potius venustas, nosti. Facit cohibere te cupere mihi tantum privilegium videntes. Imo et uidete franget animos dictus est. Tam bellum mihi visuri colorum scitis," the clerk said, a diabolical and slightly lecherous grin on their face.  
  
Dipper didn't speak much Latin, he hadn't thought to take it when it was offered in high school.  In retrospect, he considered, it probably would have been a good idea.  But the tone of the clerk's voice, the look on his face - Dipper was quite certain that whatever the man said, it had been filthy.  
  
After a second, the merchant scribbled a name barely legible in the corner of the page, folded it in half, and handed the paper to the author.  
  
"That'll be five dollars, twenty four cents.  Cash or credit?"

* * *

  
After arriving back at his home, Dipper remembered the small piece of paper.  What had the man written on it?

> _Scis me loqui._  
>    
>  _\- C________  
>    
>    
>  _Providence Curios_  
>  _Open All Hours_

  
Dipper swallowed.  He didn't know a lick of Latin, but there was something inherently creepy about those three words.

* * *

   
Three weeks passed without a need to venture back to that dimly lit store.  
  
And then he accidentally stepped on a Thaum Beetle, releasing a large amount of highly problematic thaumic energy into the room.  
  
Sage.  He needed sage.  A beat passed.  It was four o' clock in the morning.  There was no way that the grocery store would be open.  He side-eyed the scrap of paper on the counter.  Did he really want to go back to the store with the weird clerk?  Looking back at the bubbling stain on the ground, Dipper sighed.  Resigned, he grabbed his keys.

* * *

  
"Θα μου λείψουν. Παραδέξου το, σας έλειψα," the clerk said, eyes raking over the other's form.  
  
"I honestly have no idea what you just said, I don't speak... whatever that was."  
  
The clerk clucked his tongue.  "Shame, that.  What're you here for this time?"  
  
"I may or may not have stepped on a Thaum Beetle, and the aftermath may or may not be destroying my hardwood flooring."  
  
A grin with altogether too many teeth greeted him in response.  "Let me guess.  You're looking for sage?"  
  
Indignant, Dipper puffed up, slightly resembling an angry kitten.  "What of it?"  
  
"Why didn't you just make a shambles with quartz in it?  Won't get rid of all of the effects, but it'll sure as hell help."  A shit eating grin.   "Quartz is on your left, third row."  
  
As the author went towards the crystals, the shopkeeper began to write out the receipt and another message.

> _Ίσως Θα στείλω κάτι το δρόμο σας. Ίσως αυτό θα είναι πράγματι ευχάριστο. Ποιός ξέρει? Ίσως εγώ θα σας στείλουμε ένα όνειρο μόνο που μπορούσα να κάνω για σας και να σας._

By the time Dipper had returned with the quartz crystal of his choice, the receipt had been folded.  "That'll be sixteen dollars, eighty cents.  Cash or credit?"

* * *

  
After constructing and utilizing his new Shamble, Dipper was thoroughly wiped.  It was six in the morning.  _'Is that too late to go to bed?'_ he wondered as he flopped onto the mattress, sleep quickly overtaking him.

  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  
_A monochrome room with occasional hints of gold.  Silk sheets and leather.  A rough kiss claiming his mouth.  Something - it could have been leather, it could have been something much more sinister - restraining his arms above his head.  A figure in the shadows with golden eyes full of lust.  Male?  Female?  Neither?  He couldn't tell.  Hands running down his sides, a teasing finger at his entrance._  
  
_And an increasingly familiar voice whispering "Your move" before biting down on his neck._

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  
With a jolt, the brunet woke up to a sweat-soaked bed and uncomfortably sticky boxers.  
  
What the hell was that?  Better yet, WHO the hell was that?

* * *

  
It had been two weeks since xe had last seen the Pines kid.  _'It's hardly optimal,'_ Cipher decided.  _'A few dreams, not even nightmares, chasing him away?  Perhaps I may be wasting my time with him,'_ xe considered as xe applied another coat of nail polish.  
  
A chime at the door, inaudible to human ears, but clear enough to xir, made xir fumble the bottle of polish, spilling the lacquer over xir waistcoat.  "Fuck," Cipher hissed, fumbling for something, anything, to stop the spread of the spill.

\- - -

  
Dipper wasn't sure what he had been expecting when he walked in, but it sure as hell wasn't the shopkeeper spilling nail polish on their clothing.  He coughed quietly.  "Do you need help?"  
  
The clerk looked up.  "I always need help, but human nature leaves people rather reluctant to give it," was the response.  "What are you here for this time?"

\- - -

  
_'Could the kid be more fidgety?'_ Cipher wondered, but only said "Well?"  
  
Pine Tree cleared his throat.  "I've been having rather... difficult dreams.  I was wondering if you-"  
  
At this, Cipher darkened.  "I'm sorry, it seems that we're suddenly closed.  Come back later," xe stated curtly, cutting Dipper off and bodily hauling the other out of the store and locking up.

\- - -

  
Dipper could only wonder what had gotten into the clerk.  
  
Cipher could only fume and stew in xir anger.  Xe'd get Pine Tree somehow.

\- - -

  
Left with no recourse but to leave, Dipper stewed in his displeasure all the way home.  What had irked the other so badly that they closed up shop?  
  
The rest of the day would turn out to be rather unproductive for the novelist, the question plaguing his mind until he fell asleep.  
  
What had bothered the other so much?

  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  
_Dipper couldn't see anything, but he recognized the texture under him as silk._  
  
_"I give you help with your problems, I give you dreams that would please even a satyr, and you throw it back," came the voice.  "I could have held a grudge.  You certainly ruined enough to merit one, but no.  I let it go, instead pursuing you as an equal.  And you!  You!  I have been so patient.  I inform you of my intentions, I ask you to contact me.  You couldn't be bothered to translate?"_  
  
_A scoff.  "You disappoint me so, Pine Tree."_

  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  
  
When Dipper woke up, he wasn't sure if he had ever been so confused in his life.  
  
After all, it isn't every day that your arch-enemy reveals that they've been wanting to fuck the living daylights out of you.  
  
But when did Bill Cipher ever talk to him in the recent past- oh.  Oh no.   Dipper's face paled.  The shopkeeper.  
  
Providence Curios.  
  
It was painfully obvious in retrospect.  The store's name, every single thing about the clerk, the fact that it seemed they were fluent in a long dead language, the dreams, the notes.  
  
Dipper covered his face with a pillow and screamed.  "I am so, so fucked," he moaned, dragging himself to the computer and Google Translate.

* * *

  
Wandering around to clear his mind had proven to be a terrible idea in hindsight, Dipper decided.  No matter where he intended to go, his feet always seemed to lead him back to the curio shop.  The exact place he wanted to avoid.  
  
Absentmindedly, Dipper wondered if it was a sort of Compulsion that was cast, after being led back to the store for the fifth time.  
  
Either way, Dipper had a strong hunch that until he went in, he wouldn't be able to go anywhere else.  
  
With a deep breath, he opened the door and his mouth.

\- - -

Cipher was far from pleased.  
  
In front of xir stood Dipper Pines, fists clenched, teeth grit.  "Why are you such an asshole, Cipher?  Couldn't just say, I think you're attractive, I'd really like to fuck you into the mattress?"  
  
A side-eyed glare from Cipher shut Dipper up.  "Would you have believed me?"  
  
Silence.  
  
"Exactly.  So you needed visualization.  It's a common problem.  You humans don't seem to realize that fucking with a demon is tantamount to saying 'Yes, please, please fuck me into the mattress.'  With the amount of times you've inadvertently screwed me over in the last year alone, I felt it was about time for you to come to terms with what you've been doing."  
  
Dipper's face was pensive.  The dreams did leave him aching, and the offer wasn't unpleasant, if one could ignore the fact that they hated each other to the very core.  
  
"Nine o' clock.  You know where I live, I'm sure," the human stated, turning to leave.  
  
A golden flush flooded Cipher's face, and was quickly replaced by a lascivious smirk.  Xe could deal with that.

**Author's Note:**

> "You have grown to be rather attractive, you know. It makes me want to lock you away so only I have the privilege of seeing you. Or perhaps I would break your spirit and then mark you as mine. You would look so beautiful in my colors, you know." (Latin)
> 
> "You know how to talk to me." (Latin)
> 
> "You missed me. Admit it, you missed me." (Greek)
> 
> "Maybe I'll send something your way. Maybe it'll actually be pleasant. Who knows? Perhaps I'll send you a dream of all I could do for you and to you." (Greek)


End file.
